Bait trolling is normally performed by a fisherman with rod, reel and line, the bait being attached to this line and pulled behind a moving boat. When the boat moves in a straight line, so does the bait. When the boat is turned, the bait will also move in a generally curved path. However, the radius of the curve is limited by how tightly the boat can turn. At times, it is desirable to troll or pull a bait through the water in a much narrower, circular pattern than can be performed by pulling it behind a boat.
Another method for trolling is for a fisherman to cast the bait from the shore or a boat and then reel the line back in, which causes the bait to travel toward him in a substantially linear path. By manipulation of the rod and by varying the speed of reeling, the speed and motion of the moving bait can be controlled. It can be a jerky motion, smooth motion, stop and go motion, etc. but, again, it is limited for the most part to a linear path. Obviously, a skillful fisherman can cast a bait into a flowing stream allowing it to float and move with the stream while reeling it in which will give a motion to the bait in a arcuate path determined by the speed with the stream and the speed of which it is reeled in. However, the path is almost straight.
It is an object of this invention to create a mechanism which will troll or pull a bait through the water in a small, circular path and which mechanism can be adjusted to change the radius of the circle. It is also an object to provide trolling mechanism which can be preset to move a bait in one circular path and then have it change without recasting, to a different circular path. It is even more desirable to provide and have another bait trolling mechanism which may be set to troll bait in a clockwise direction and then change it to a counter-clockwise direction, or vice versa, without removing it from the water.
And yet another object of this invention is to provide a bait trolling mechanism which may be used under ice to move a bait in a circular or linear path. For the most part, ice fishing is performed by cutting a hole in the ice, lowering a bait through the hole toward the bottom wherein it remains either stationary or moved vertically up and down. There is little opportunity, because of the restriction of the size of the hole, to move the bait in any direction other than vertically.
Another object of this invention is to create a bait trolling mechanism which will move a bait beneath the ice in a circular path in either clockwise or counter-clockwise directions, or both.
It is also an object to provide such mechanism to troll directly below the ice or close to the bottom. It is to the accomplishment of the above objectives that this invention is directed.